Executive Order 795

On June 11, 1907, an executive order was issued under which the heads of the Executive Departments formed a committee on grades and salaries. This committee prepared clear and concise tables of estimates for positions and salaries in conformity with the schedule and recommendations of the committee on department methods of January 4, 1907. In the absence of action by Congress on the general subject of departmental grades the heads of the executive departments and independent government establishments are hereby ordered to arrange the present salaries in said executive departments and independent Government establishments so as to conform, as nearly as may be, to the principles underlying the report of the committee on grades and salaries.

Owing to the fact that the annual salaries attaching to adjacent grades often differ by as much as $200, it will, of course, be impossible to do more than approximate this plan, and in many cases also it will be impossible to make changes with exact adaptation to individual efficiency. But the good of the service urgently demands that as far as practicable the rule be followed of paying similar salaries for similar grades of work, and that to each position shall be assigned the person best fitted for it, as shown by work already accomplished.

Theodore Roosevelt.

The White House,

May 13, 1908.